School's photo faux pas sign of larger problems

MADISON, Wis. {AP} University of Wisconsin-Madison officials doctored a publicity photo to include a black face among a crowd of white football fans.

They couldn't find an authentic picture of diversity.

The recent incident highlights the frustrated attempts of many schools to draw minorities to their campuses. While universities have made progress in the past two decades to increase minority enrollment, officials say it is often a struggle.

Paul Barrows, vice chancellor for student affairs at UW-Madison, said a lack of diversity can be self-perpetuating, since the scarcity of minority students can intimidate other prospective nonwhite students.

"You've got to have enough people so that if I'm a young black student, I'm not the only one in class, the only one in the dorm," Barrows said.

The university admitted digitally altering the cover of its fall admissions brochure to include a black student. Barrows said Wednesday the university will reprint all 106,000 copies at a cost of about $64,000 to remove the picture of Diallo Shabazz, a senior who said he has never even attended a football game.

"It's a symptom of a much larger problem," Shabazz told the Wisconsin State Journal.